Saturday, 11 April 2015

How to avoid destroying the paint-job on your vintage car

Winter is upon us, and this sometimes means you'll be taking your vintage car out less than usual. Winter is the ideal time for 'spring cleaning', in your house, business as well as body, mind and spirit. Whether you're embarking on a new 'correct eating plan', or whether you've decided to implement your New Year's resolution early, Spring is always a good time to implement new ideas and plans.

Why wait for the so-called 'end of the year' or '1st January' or 'Monday'? The present time is all we have – yesterday doesn't exist and tomorrow doesn't exist – there's no time like the present. Make it your goal to be in love with every NOW moment. And that means this moment of NOW SPRING-CLEANING YOUR GARAGE and avoid destroying the paint-job on your vintage car!

There is nothing worse than a cluttered garage or workshop! A cluttered space is one of the main causes of lost tools, injuries and damage to your precious vintage car. It makes sense to clean up the space where you store your vintage car, so protecting your investment and ensuring your own safety and a safe and healthy environment for you and your family.

Obviously the first step is to unpack the garage, clean the floors and walls and then go through all your stuff and decide what to keep. Be ruthless. Throw away anything that you haven't even SEEN for years! Then pack what you want to keep in order of importance - then it will be easy to carry back and store it in order of relevance.

If you're a 'hoarder' like me, then preferably you should have a seperate store room for all the other 'necessities' that can't be thrown away. For example, I never throw away large sheets of cardboard or plastic, they're great to lie on under the car (if you haven't got a pit), but they should definitely be stored away from where you keep your car as they are a great fire hazard. All hazardous chemicals (petrol, paint, oil, etc) should also be kept in some other safe place.

The first step before you pack everything back, is to organise your now nice and clean garage with shelving, cupboards, tool boxes and peg board on the walls for easy access to the tools and equipment you use most. Make sure you leave enough room on the sides so that the car doors can easily open without bumping on anything, which can cause a lot of damage.

This is not an ideal situation. The motorbike is far too close to the car for confort!

Here are a few examples of some pretty neat clean, good-looking garages.

Before and after - a perfect clean-up operation!

Ideally,your workshop should be separate from where you store your finished project and here things can get a bit more messy. But it is still common sense to have a clean-up every couple of months to ensure safety and a comfortable working space.

A perfect example of a well thought-out workshop.

Classic cars are an incredible investment.
Since 2008, the classic car market has grown enormously and the value of
the cars has gone stratospheric.From the average collector’s point of view, it’s something that can
offer a good pension pot. If you put your money into a nice classic now, you’ll probably
double or treble your money when you sell it. Life’s too short not to enjoy what you are doing and if you can invest
in a car or a boat or a piece of art – anything that you love and enjoy –
then so much the better.